43
Annual Slavic festival draws crowds for ethnic food and fun
Annual festival draws crowds for ethnic food and fun
By Sean Barron
YOUNGSTOWN
Did you find yourself trading in the hamburgers and hot dogs for haluski, or the sloppy joes for cevapcici?
If so, you likely were in the middle of a colorful, family-friendly and growing city festival.
Cevapcici (a dish of grilled meat common in countries such as Slovakia and the Czech Republic) and haluski (noodles and cabbage) were two of many ethnic foods offered during Saturday’s fourth annual Simply Slavic Festival on East Federal Street, downtown.
“This is a real Slavic tradition,” said Ken Shirilla, festival chairman. “Heritage is what we’re about.”
The 12-hour event was to allow people to more fully appreciate and absorb Slavic customs and traditions while educating them about those cultures, Shirilla noted.
Thirteen food and eight marketplace vendors also were in the mix, said Dave Slanina, an event co-founder.
The festival kicked off at noon, and it wasn’t long before attendees lined up to partake of several traditional foods such as cheese pirogi, kielbasa, Balkan beef and pork on bread and numerous types of baked goods. Others were drawn to a variety of brightly colored jewelry and necklaces, courtesy of Alison Brougher.
“I brought so many things back [from overseas] that people said, ‘You should open a store,’” recalled Brougher, who owns Euro Haus, a business she started in 1996 at her Pittsburgh-area home.
Braugher, who takes part in about 100 craft shows, church festivals and related events annually, imported most of her items from the Czech Republic, Russia, Ukraine and elsewhere in Eastern Europe, though she makes her own Czech glass-bead jewelry. Among the attractions on her table were seashell necklaces and earrings.
“I like diversity and love the combination of music and a good, authentic marketplace,” she said of the festival.
Also happy to be part of the festivities was Daniel J. Kisha, who owns Johnstown, Pa.-based Slovak Import Co.
“I’ve been selling Slovak products since 2005 at festivals across the U.S.,” he said, adding that all of his merchandise except the T-shirts comes from Slovakia.
Kisha said he was grateful to be able to promote such heritage and noted that the Johnstown area’s first Slovak festival is set for Oct. 3-5 in nearby Cambria City and will be patterned after the local gathering.
A sampling of items included books on Slovakian culture, cookbooks, Ukrainian art pieces, icons and figurines, scarves, wooden eggs, Russian nesting pins, tapestry wall hangings for $5 apiece and an assortment of beers.
Some attendees read signs that mentioned famous Polish Americans such as former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, actor Peter Falk, singers Bobby Vinton and Pat Benatar, and Leon Jaworski, a special prosecutor during the Watergate scandal.
Also, well-known Slovak Americans were featured. They include actress Angelina Jolie, former NFL quarterback and kicker George Blanda, the late actor Paul Newman and local retired middleweight boxing champion Kelly Pavlik.
Providing the music and dancing were the Happy Hearts Junior Tamburitzans, the St. Nicholas Russian Balalika Orchestra, Mike Luteran & Polka Magic, the Youngstown Area Ukrainian Dancers, the Living Traditions Folk Ensemble, the Slavjane Rusyn Dancers and the Night Owls Tamburitzans.
After sunset, many attendees gathered around a bonfire where dances and acoustic music were offered.
Slanina, the event’s co-founder, explained that this year’s Simply Slavic gathering coincides with the summer solstice, which many countries such as Russia and Poland celebrate with the pagan tradition of dancing around and jumping over a bonfire.